Talk of such a deal stirs memories, because Safeway has been there before. In 1986 the company was taken over in leveraged buy-out by a group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. It was a great deal for KKR, eventually returning the firm $7.2 billion after an initial investment of $129 million.

But what happened following that first investment was emblematic of the 1980s buy-out craze. It was also a tale captured in vivid detail by the WSJ’s Susan Faludi, in a piece that won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism. The tale “revealed the human costs of high finance,” the Pulitzer committee said.

It’s a long and powerful read, and one with plenty of relevance to today’s economy, where debates still rage about the social obligations of financiers and executives.

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